Few takers for trip to T-20 World Cup

After the month-long Indian Premier League (IPL) 20-20 cricket extravaganza in South Africa, Indian cricket fans aren’t keen on going to England for the T-20 World Cup in England this month.

“People have just spent on travelling to South Africa for the IPL 20-20. Also, schools will start re-opening this month after the summer vacations,” said Thomas C Thottathil, spokesperson for Cox & Kings India Ltd. “We are seeing demand only for the semi-final and final matches,” Thottathil added.

While over 5,000 people travelled to South Africa for the IPL series, not more than 2,000 are expected to England for the T-20 world. Travel companies like SOTC and STIC group have announced their travel packages for the T-20 world cup, while Cox & Kings is giving the final touches to its packages.

STIC Travel Group is offering a package at Rs 24,999 per person on a twin-sharing basis, while SOTC’s cheapest travel package starts at Rs 59,800.

This increased cost is also an issue, as the average travel package costs 33 per cent more in comparison with the South African ones. There was no visa fee for South Africa, but there is one of Rs 7,000 for England.

And, “England is much costlier than South Africa and most people would not like to spend that much during a recession,” said a senior executive of a travel agency.

Indian travel companies are also concerned about being able to arrange tickets for the big matches, for which there is a lot of demand

“The problem that we face is of getting tickets for the finals,” said Madhawan Menon, managing director at Thomas Cook India.